Larian Held Promised Q&A Session on Divinity and Touched on AI Topic
Developers of Divinity and Larian head Swen Vincke directly interacted with players in a promised session. They revealed some details about creating the new RPG, shared interesting insights, and touched on the topic of generative AI.
The studio head promised not to use artificial intelligence for creating concept art anymore. However, they will not entirely abandon the technology. The team might use it, for instance, when working on assets. In this case, AI will be trained only on Larian's materials—its intellectual property.
Moreover, the script, dialogues, notes, and other significant texts are a human prerogative. An experimental group within the studio attempted to adapt AI for these purposes, but it was terrible. So, they've decided to refrain from its "services" in this aspect. The same goes for character voiceovers, which will be entirely handled by actors. Larian is currently casting, and some characters have already been assigned voices. Unfortunately, details are not disclosed yet.
According to Vincke, AI technology is needed primarily to reduce production time for the RPG adventure, as the world of Divinity promises to be huge. Although initially, the map was supposed to be smaller than its "sister" in Baldur’s Gate 3, things have changed. At that time, the studio management wanted to take on another DnD project but decided against it. Therefore, Divinity received more attention and resources. Currently, about 500 people are working on it.
The RPG events will unfold in the same universe as both parts of Divinity: Original Sin. However, the new story is completely standalone. It will inherit lore and some mechanics from its predecessors, while less successful elements of DOS and DOS2 will be left "overboard." For example, the randomized loot that was generated in chests or the magic and physical armor system.
Gameplay details will not be revealed soon. The Divinity team is fully immersed in work and still has "a lot to do." After all, it's an ambitious game that requires a lot of effort and time to create.